The Sun describes how raiders made a quick "gateaux way" with the cake, made in the shape of the footballer's club shirt, while he was celebrating with friends and family at a Liverpool hotel.

The thieves have since issued a ransom note - sent along with a photo of a slice of the red gateau - ordering the footballer to ring them for further instructions. It warns: "The cake gets it unless our demands are met."

The strange case is reminiscent of a classic Coronation Street storyline in which a garden gnome belonging to drippy Derek Wilton and his wife Mavis was kidnapped. The pair subsequently received photographs of the gnome, called Arthur, at several famous world monuments, followed by his severed ear along with a ransom note for fifty chocolate doubloons.

Whether Carragher's cake kidnappers will make do with such a pittance remains to be seen.